If you’re really into the NBA 2K20 gameplay but the fps drops are just getting to your head, this PC Performance Guide will help you get the best out of your system specs to enjoy the game properly.
NBA 2K20 PC Performance
There are a number of ways to improve your NBA 2K20 gameplay experience on a PC:
System Requirements
Firstly, we should concern ourselves with what system specifications will we require to play NBA 2K20:
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| OS | Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit or Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit or Windows 10 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz / AMD FX-4100 @ 3.60 GHz or better | Intel® Core™ i5-4430 @ 3 GHz / AMD FX-8370 @ 3.4 GHz or better |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 450 1GB / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7770 1GB or better | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 770 2GB / AMD® Radeon™ R9 270 2GB or better |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
| Storage | 80 GB available space | 80 GB available space |
| Sound Card | DirectX 9.0x compatible | DirectX 9.0x compatible |
| Dual-Analog Gamepad | Recommended | Recommended |
| Additional Notes | Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributable 2012. | None |
Graphics Tweaks
Before you proceed with this, update your graphic card’s drivers. The following settings are for players who can not term their PC as a ‘gaming’ machine, so if you’re one of those who can, don’t be hesitant to go up on those settings.
Head to the video settings that you will find in the game, adjust them as the ensuing:
| Window Mode | Full Screen |
| Anti-aliasing Level | 1 |
| Vertical Sync | On |
| Dynamic Vertical Sync | Off |
| Overall Quality | Low |
| Shader Detail Level | Low |
| Shadow Detail Level | Medium |
| Shadow Detail Level | Medium |
| Player Detail Level | Low |
| Crowd Detail Level | Low |
| Media People Detail Level | Low |
| Hair Detail Level | Low |
| Ambient Occlusion | Off |
| Volumetric Lighting | Off |
| Temporal Anti-aliasing | Off |
| Depth Of Field | Off |
| Motion Blur | Off |
| Bloom | Off |
| Floor Reflections | Off |
| Mirror Reflections | Off |
| Buffer Count | 3 |
| Max Anisotropy | 1 |
| Allow Compute Shaders | On |
| Shader Preload | On |
NVIDIA’s Control Panel Settings
Head to NVIDIA’s Control Panel, on the left you will see “Adjust Image Settings with Preview” right under “3D Settings”. Click on this tab.
Unless you have a high-end gaming machine, scroll the Performance-Quality bar towards its extreme left and apply these settings.
Below this tab, click on “Manage 3D Settings” and then “Program Settings”. To add the game here, click on “Add” and select “NBA2K20.exe” from this list.
Set “Power Management Mode” to “Prefer maximum performance”, and “Texture filtering – Quality” to High Performance. Select “High-Performance NVIDIA Processor” under preferred graphics processor if you’re using a laptop.
Apply the settings and you’re done!
AMD Radeon
Open the AMD Radeon Settings, click on the “Gaming” tab, followed by “Global Settings”.
Head to the “Anti-Aliasing Mode” and select “Override Application Settings”. Set the “Anti-Aliasing Level” to “2X”. Once you’ve done this, turn on the “Anisotropic Filtering Mode”, and set the “Anisotropic Filtering Level” to “2x”.
Click on “Texture Filtering Quality” and select “Performance”. Once here, set “Wait for Vertical Refresh” to “Always Off”.
Click on “Tessellation Mode” and select “Override Application Settings”. Set “Maximum Tessellation Level” to “32x” or lower and you’re done!
Game Mode
To further optimize your gaming experience, you will have to turn off Game Mode in Windows 10. Search for Settings in your search. Click on “Gaming” and head to the “Game Bar” tab.
Once here, set “Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar” to “Off”. Head to the “Game Mode” tab and set “Game Mode” to “Off”.
Solid State Drive (SSD)
I highly recommend you to use an SSD if you have one installed on your computer. Shift your game to the SSD partition in order to use it.
Discord
If you use discord, consider optimizing it by disabling its “Hardware Acceleration”. Open Discord, head to the “Appearance” tab and turn off “Hardware Acceleration”.
Google Chrome
Turn off the “Continue Running Background Applications when Google Chrome is Closed” option in Chrome’s “Advanced” settings under the “System” tab.
Background Processes
Use your Task Manager to determine any extra background processes that you may want to turn off before you play NBA 2K20. Ending such background processes will allow your processor’s cores to focus on handling the game’s processes.
Prioritize the Application
Open up your task manager, head to “Details” and search for “NBA2K20.exe”. Right Click on this and set its priority to “High”.
Change your Power Options
This will increase your CPU’s temperature by 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. Head to your Window’s “Power Options”. Click on “Additional Power Settings” and select “High Performance” under the “Preferred Plans” tab.
Once you’ve done this, click on “Change Plan Settings” and then “Change Advanced Power Settings”. Search for “Processor Power Management”, click on the “+” icon that you will see to its left.
Once here, set “Minimum Processor State” and “Maximum Processor State” to a hundred percent. Click on “Ok” and you’re done!
Steam’s Options
Head to the Steam Library’s list of games, search for NBA 2K20 and right-click on it and select “Properties”.
Hit “Set Launch Options” under the “general” tab. Once here, type “-high -USEALLAVAILABLECORES” in the new window.
Disable Full-Screen Optimizations
In order to do this, head to the game’s root directory. Right-click on “NBA2K20.exe” and hit “Properties”. Enable “Disable full-screen optimizations” under the “Compatibility” tab. Click on “Ok” and you’re done!
Defrag or TRIM your disk
With data being constantly written and deleted from your hard disk, all of your files get fragmented and they physically spread all over the hard disk drive. This reduces your computer’s performance.
To Defrag your hard disk, head “All Programs”, then “Accessories”, then “System Tools”, and then “Disk Defragmenter”. Select your Windows’ disk and click on “Defragment Disk”.
Note: Use “TRIM” to optimize your SSD instead of using the “Defragment Disk” command.
Uninstall Extra Applications
Consider uninstalling applications that you do not use so that these applications do not have any hidden background processes running on while you’re playing.
